Prep softball: Terra Linda upends Tam in MCAL opener

On paper the MCAL opener between two of the league's top teams figured to be a tight one. On the diamond, it didn't disappoint.

The Terra Linda High 2012 softball season ended with a tough 2-1 loss to Tam in the North Coast Section playoffs. The 2013 campaign started with a 5-2 victory over the Red-tailed Hawks in Mill Valley on Monday.

"It's a good start to the season, we're going to just take it one team at a time, each game in the league is hard," said catcher Alyssa Ross, who went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. "This was a good game and it starts us off strong."

The Trojans got it going early with their bats in the first inning. Three consecutive singles plated a pair of runs on Ross' poke up the middle. Sammie Burnash drove in the third run of the inning, another single to center field and Terra Linda opened up a three-run lead.

The Hawks answered in their half of the first with two runs. Aria Pogni coaxed a two-out walk and back-to-back singles by Rebecca Fong and Elodie Townsend scored Pogni. Terra Linda's freshman pitcher, Ashley Bottomley, looked to be on her way out of the inning, getting a come-backer, but her throw was errant to first and allowed another run to score.

After that both Bottomley and freshman counterpart Christy Gusiff settled in, putting zeroes on the board until the fifth inning. A couple hits for the Trojans (5-1, 1-0) and a couple of defensive miscues by Tam scored two insurance runs for Terra Linda.

"(Ashley) did outstanding, this is her sixth start, she's 5-1 now and she just keeps getting better," Terra Linda coach Brad Lucchi said. "And it's hard to believe that she's only a freshman sometimes, but she certainly stepped it up when she had to."

Things remained relatively quiet until the bottom of the seventh, the last chance for Tam (1-4, 0-1). Chloe Jacobs worked a leadoff walk, but Bottomley recovered to strike out the next two hitters. Katie Yee singled to keep the Hawks alive and bring the tying run to the plate. Bottomley got Shannon Lee to pop out to short to end the game with Pogni, the potential winning run, left on deck.

"I was getting kind of mad with my pitching, but I was just trying to throw it hard and get the game over with," said Bottomley, who threw all seven innings, yielding three hits and striking out eight. "I was focusing more and getting more movement."

The top two batters in the Trojan lineup acted as the catalysts for the offense. Leadoff hitter Macauley Prickett was 2 for 4 with two runs and two stolen bases. No. 2 batter Meredith Esposto also was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

Since returning from their trip to Cuba, the states have been unfriendly to the Hawks thus far. Tam has lost four consecutive games, a trend that coach Erin Lawley knows must get turned around quickly.

"We just didn't have timely hitting and our defense made some costly errors by not communicating," Lawley said. "When you can't hit and you can't play defense, you can't win a ball game."